Content area
Full Text
If you provide or allow employees an iPad, here are the productivity apps that you should install on them
Users and business managers alike are loving the iPad as a potential laptop replacement, for at least part of the time. And more and more companies are providing employees iPads or letting employees use their own. So, just as companies typically install a suite of desktop productivity apps (nearly always Microsoft Office), what should the iPad equivalent be?
The answer can't be Office, because Microsoft has no iPad-compatible suite. Microsoft's Office Web Apps cloud-based suite doesn't work on an iPad either. Google Docs is also not usable on an iPad.
[ Learn how to manage iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys, and other smartphones in InfoWorld's 20-page Mobile Management Deep Dive PDF special report. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobile Edge blog and Mobilize newsletter. ]
InfoWorld.com investigated the available programs and put together a recommended business apps suite that should be the standard install on corporate iPads. I was surprised to find that none of the iPad productivity suites is ideal, though one comes close. (I've added U.S. iTunes links for each app covered.)
Of course, beyond the productivity apps that nearly everyone uses, iPadders have further needs, so I've also put together a collection of additional business apps that you might make available to employees or point them to for more specialized work.
The office suite candidates are Apple's iWork suite -- Pages ($10), Numbers ($10), and Keynote ($10) -- plus Quickoffice's Quickoffice Mobile Connect Suite ($20, but its price changes frequently) and DavaViz's Documents to Go Premium ($17). Quickoffice has a word processor and spreadsheet editor; DocsToGo (as it's labeled on the iPad) has a word processor, a spreadsheet editor, and a tool to edit text and add notes to a presentation. All the programs read and write to the Microsoft Office file formats.
I first pick out the best individual productivity apps, then pull together a recommended suite that includes utilities that should be in your standard installation as well:
The best iPad word processor
The best iPad spreadsheet editor
The best iPad presentation app
The best iPad PDF markup tool
The best iPad utilities most business users...